Dayton Moore Got One Thing Right

Posted by Zach Sanders on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 2:25 pm

For all the moves Dayton Moore has made that have hurt the Royals and left us scratching our heads, he made one before the season that may turn out to be one of the savviest moves of the decade.

On January 26th of this year, Moore and the Royals agreed to a deal with Zack Greinke, avoiding arbitration for the year. The deal was over four years, and Greinke would make $38 million in that time-frame.

Fast forward to right now, and this deal is insane. Not only did Greinke improve like the Royals had hoped, but he turned himself into arguably the best pitcher in baseball. He is in line to win the Cy Young award this year, assuming the voters don’t do something really stupid, and seems primed to do it all again next year.

The best part about Greinke’s deal, is that it’s really over and done with. According to FanGraph’s WAR data, Greinke was worth $42.4 million this year alone! That is $4 million more than the Royals will pay him for all four seasons of play. Anything Greinke gives them from here on out is just gravy, because he has already lived up to his contract.

Surprisingly, this isn’t the only contract situation that quickly comes to mind. A day after Greinke signed his deal, the Rockies and Ubaldo Jimenez came to terms on a 4 year deal worth $10 million. His deal includes club options in years 5, and 6 as well. Adding up all of those numbers, I came up with a possible 6yr/$23.75MM deal. Looking at FanGraph’s WAR data once again, Jimenez was worth $25.5MM this season alone. This deal is even better than Greinke’s, because the Rockies now have five “free” years of Jimenez under their belt.

To name one more, Gavin Floyd was worth ~$20MM this year, and signed a 4yr/$15.5MM deal this past offseason that includes a club option for year five. If that option isn’t picked up (and it will be), then Floyd has already earned his contract.

GM’s seem to get it now. Lock up young talent to long term deals and save money in the long run. In the short term, it may cost more than keeping them under team control and arbitration, but it will pay off in the end.